How to Treat the Wound in Order to Avoid Scarring? (photo)

My 18 m old son hit his lower lip on table 1,5 months ago. We did not do any sutures. A week after the hit we visited 3 specialists, 2 of them told us that it would not leave a scar but one of them told us to start a treatment with scarfix cream for 3 mo and after visit him again. My concern is that although 1,5 m have passed the right area of the wound as you see the pic is a bit raised/swollen and bit hard when you touch. Will this stay like this or will flatten in time. Any other treatment?

Doctor Answers 2

18 Month Old Lip Scar

September 26th, 2012

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Your question is one that many parents ponder when their children get facial scars. Your son (who is very cute btw) has a typical scar for a wound that healed on its own without any intervention like sutures, dermabond, etc. At 1.5 months, the scar will be slightly raised and a little hard to the touch. While convenstional wisdom is that the scar by 6 months to a year should be minimally visibile in a child this age, I have seen many people with residual scar lines from incidents in childhood.

To this end, I agree that a scar product will help reduce the appearance of this scar. The majority of scar products are silicone based, and trap water/moisture in a scar and this works to help reduce scar appearance. There has been a move recently to combine these products with various combinations of steroids to help improve their efficacy. the product I currently like the best is the Enaltus Biocorneum product that combines the scar cream with an SPF, and they have a new version I believe that will have some hydrocortisone in it. Regardless of brand however, the bigger issue is timing the start of the product sooner rather than later. I usually start these products 2-4 weeks after the would has healed, but I have seen these products help almost a year out from the scar formation. At 6 weeks, I think you will see a benefit to using the products.

Beyond scar creams, there are many lasers available to help minimize scarring. My personal favorite here is fractional C02, though I have seen good results with IPL, Diodes, and Pulse Dye lasers in this setting. The challenge in lasering a young child is always there. The nice thing is that lasers on scars can be done later in life with some efficacy. Good luck!!

Scars Treatment Pictures

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